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  • #BlackDollarsMatter: An Open Letter to the Companies That Openly Support #LGBTQ Marriage Equality/Civil Rights. #BlackLivesMatter...and We Need You To Stand Up For Us As Well!!

    Dear Top Companies and Corporations That Stood With LGBTQ Americans as we fought, fight and fight on for marriage equality and LGBTQ civil rights,

    THANK YOU! From a lesbian who married the love of her life this past June, I personally say THANK YOU! So many millions of us who wish to enjoy the same rights and privileges under the law and Constitution as our straight counterparts are finally able to do so in growing numbers and growing areas of this country and we appreciate you standing with us. But wait...don't sit down yet. You're not done.

    America is still a country with many of her citizens living...and dying...as second class citizens. Black Americans in general, Black men in particular, are under siege...moving through their days and nights with targets on their backs...chest...arms...legs...and head.  As depicted in the cases of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, as of late and Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, just to name a few more historically, Black men are not regarded as human beings, let alone first class citizens worthy of the RIGHT to LIVE in America. These names have become well known to many but there are hundreds of names you do not know...hundreds of  souls lost to the terrorism that plagues this country.

    Black American men are arrested, jailed and killed by law enforcement in greater numbers than any other demographic in the United States. The American justice system is not just when Black men can be murdered by the police and then their murderers allowed to go free without the process of a trial. The federal government should NOT HAVE to get involved in local and state matters and yet, as we see in Missouri and New York, President Barack Obama, Eric Holder and the Justice Department's need to intervene in order to preserve the integrity of a legal system that continuously let Black Americans down. This is reminiscent of the call for federal intervention during the Civil Rights Movement against American apartheid in the 1950's and 1960's. The brutal acts of SOME police officers who abuse the authority and position of power they possess are on par with the terrorism the Klu Klux Klan impressed on Black Americans during the last century. Black Americans were afraid to go out at night. They were afraid to go our in the day, even. The wrong word spoken to the wrong person, during that time, could get a Black American beaten and the slightest act perceived "out of step" could get them killed. How is that different than what is happening today?

    I am a Black American woman with two brothers, eight nephews, two step sons, two grand sons, three uncles, and a father and I pray they move through this Earth safely...everyday. I am a college professor who look hundreds of young people in the eyes every year and teach them for this is their world to lead but also fear that the lives of the Black men in my classes may be ended before they can even begin their great journeys. This isn't living. This is surviving.

    We need you to stand with all Americans against this violence. We need you to show up and speak out against the injustice served up to Black Americans on a daily basis. We need you to use your brand and power of voice to speak out against the violence and terrorism we endure in this country daily. Yes, daily. We support your business with our dollars and we need a return on OUR investment in you! Not every case gets national coverage or trends on Twitter, but you can find the mothers of the many hundreds of thousands of sons taken too early...they will tell you: Black Lives Matter. We need YOU to echo this message!

    Stand with us. Show yourself and stand against violence and injustice. You can not stand for the civil rights of some and not the civil rights of all. Here is a sampling of some of the companies who stood strong and tall for LGBTQ rights! We are calling on you!



     


     


     
     

     





    Thank you! We, Black America, look forward to your marketing campaigns and outreach that will aid us in our cause for Civil Rights!
    Signed,
    Teresa Dowell-Vest

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